An 'Ultimate League' put together based on the averaging finishing positions of the country's footballs teams over the last 50 years has the East London club in 10th place, the position they currently occupy in the Premier League table.

Hammers fans will argue their club should be overachieving according to the new table devised by Sky Sports but barring a turnaround in form, they are likely to finish exactly where history dictates.

West Ham are unique in that they are one of just three clubs from the 90 whose current league position directly correlates with the Ultimate League table. The other clubs are Premier League strugglers Leicester City, in 18th place, and Swindon Town who are fourth in League One, which makes them the 48th ranked team in the country.

The Hammers' average league position over the 50 years equated to 15.2 in the overall table, which only includes teams that have appeared in the top four English leagues for at least 15 seasons since 1964/65.

Ironically that was the season of West Ham's greatest triumph as they beat TSV Munich 1860 in the Cup Winners Cup Final at Wembley. Their trio of England heroes, including skipper of club and country Bobby Moore, would be back at the stadium a year later lifting the World Cup for England.

West Ham's bitter rivals Millwall are some 25 places below them in 35th in the standings but there's bad news for Irons fans as another major rival Tottenham Hotspur sit five places above them in fifth.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their dominance in the 1970s and 80s, Liverpool top the 90-team table after recording a remarkable average finishing position of 3.3 over the past half-century. Rivals Manchester United and Arsenal complete the top three.